Target-triggered autonomous assembly of DNA polymer chains and its application in colorimetric nucleic acid detection

Abstract

A novel target-triggered DNA autonomous assembly pathway for the formation of one-dimensional DNA polymer chains was proposed based on the catalyzed hairpin assembly and sticky end self-assembly, which led to an enzyme-free and signal amplified gold nanoparticle (AuNP) based colorimetric nucleic acid assay with picomolar sensitivity and specificity.